London Met Police Officer Secretly Filmed Others Showering at Leisure Centre
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, center, and new commissioner of the Metropolitan police Sir Mark Peter Rowley
James TweedieThe Metropolitan Police Service has been accused of failing to properly vet recruits since Wayne Couzens, a serving officer in the force’s armed VIP protection unit, kidnapped, raped and murdered London woman Sarah Everard in March 2021.An officer in London’s Metropolitan Police used his mobile phone to film others showering at a public leisure centre, a disciplinary inquiry has found.Former police constable Andrew Adams, who was attached to the Specialist Crime Command, resigned from the Met on May 31 this year, some 16 months after he was charged by the forces neighbour Essex Police.But a misconduct hearing this week said he would have been sacked if he was still serving. He will now be put on the College of Policing’s list of former officers barred from serving.Adams was found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of September 21 and sentenced to 150 hours’ community service, £750 in compensation to his victims and £3,500 in prosecution costs.The court heard how Adams put his mobile phone against the door in the changing area that opened in to the showers at the centre in Essex so he could record videos of others washing and changing.”Former PC Adams’ actions were criminal and it is right that he no longer works for the Met,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Ellen of the Specialist Crime Command.”As the Commissioner has said, integrity is the foundation of policing. People rightly expect us to uphold the highest standards,” Ellen added. “We will not allow those who carry out criminal behaviour to remain in the organisation.”New Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has vowed to clean up the force after a string of scandals that have besmirched its reputation. He took over from acting commissioner Stephen House in September as the permanent replacement for Dame Cressida Dick, who resigned in April after London Mayor Sadiq Khan publicly disavowed her.
WorldPolice Recruits From ‘Crime Families’ Slipped Through Vetting, UK Watchdog Finds2 November, 13:05 GMTThe police vetting process was called into question after Wayne Couzens, a serving officer in the Met’s armed VIP protection unit — which guards government ministers and MPs — was charged with and later convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, who he snatched from London’s busy Clapham Common in March 2021.Despite being out of uniform and driving a rented car, Couzens abused the authority of his police warrant card and emergency COVID-19 lockdown laws to make Everard believe she was under legitimate arrest. It later emerged that he was facing multiple allegations of indecent exposure against but had not been suspended from duty.Two other met officers were charged with rape within weeks of Couzens’ conviction.
